Bugs, creatures we all know. But did you know that if we start eating bugs a lot of good things will come from it? First of all, bugs are super healthy for you. Next, if you like animals, then you want to eat bugs. There are just too many bugs on the planet so you might want to consider chomping on some delicious bugs today.

Eating bugs is very healthy for you. Mealworms, ants and other bugs have lots of protein. A grasshopper has protein in the head, good fats in the thorax and nutrition in the abdomen. Eating bugs will not make you sick like meat can. If you have been sick from meat, then you know how awful it is.

Eating bugs will stop animal farming a ton. Deforestation is caused from farming cows. Cow farts produce methane and is 84% more powerful than carbon dioxide. If we stop farming cows, we won’t have to give them food that makes them gassy. Another thing that hurts the planet is slaughterhouses. The slaughterhouses torture animals and if we eat just bugs and vegetables we will stop harming the peaceful lives of these poor animals.

Eating bugs is a good idea because there are around 10 quintillion individual bugs on the planet. So they won’t go extinct any time soon. The 10 quintillion is 22% beetles, 7% months/butterflies, 9% flies, 8% wasps and finally 13% other insects.

I know when you think of a giant bowl of crickets in front of you, it makes you feel sick. But if you want to help the world, then try some. Besides they are very healthy, you too can help the animals and since when has anyone been worried about running out of bugs. So just think twice before gobbling down a giant pile of steak.

~~~

2nd Place

A Time When I was Proud of Myself

by Brayden Mahon

When I am proud of myself I download a new game on my ipad. It is pretty funny but it makes me even more proud of myself. I get pretty happy when I’m proud of myself.

We all have big hearts loving, caring, and sharing, so you can see like I said we all have proud hearts. When we laugh we get happy or proud of ourselves. Our hearts get bigger and bigger. It is not painful to be proud of yourself.

But back to the proud thing you and I all get proud once in a while. I get proud a lot and so do you. I get proud of myself when I get greens in school and get a side done on my Rubic’s Cube.

So we all get proud of something, but how do we know we are proud? We have to do something to make us proud.

~~~

3rd Place

A Time I was Proud of Myself

by Olivia Stephens

Entry not available – please send to LJackson513@gmail.com and we will post it!

~~~~~

KIDS POETRY

1st Place

Ava Mick

Entry not available – please send to LJackson513@gmail.com and we will post it!

Ella and Stella quickly followed behind their father. Their father stopped abruptly and the sisters almost collided with him. Papa looked at the girls and said, “I have some furs I want to trade with the Indians. We need some venison for the trip to Utah. Go back to the farmhouse and help your mother pack.” Their father went ahead of them and took one of the crossroads. Stella barely knew the way back to the family’s farmhouse. They hadn’t seen the path their father had taken and they knew the way to their house wasn’t the one in front of them, so they took one of the offshoots of the path. After the girls walked about a mile, they stumbled upon a cluster of huts. Strangely enough, there were men, women and children that seemed to be living in these huts. Stella’s eyes drifted from the bark and mud huts to see a cluster of male Indians by a huge oak tree in the distance. Stella grabbed Ella’s hand and moved closer to get a better look. Once they were about one hundred yards from the Indian cluster, one of the Indians moved and Stella could see her papa tied to the tree with daggers and knives jutting out of the tree behind him. Stella whispered to Ella,” go into the farthest corner of the farthest hut and see if you can hide there. I will come for you with Papa.” Ella opened her mouth to argue but Stella pushed her toward the outcropping of huts. Once Ella was out of sight, Stella ran up to one of the Indians, grabbed a knife from his belt, stabbed the knife into the ground, and yelled at the strange Indian. Of course the Indian could not understand her so he grabbed her and took her to the same hut where Ella was. Their accidental trip to Indian village was not going well.

The Indian dragged Stella into the hut with such force that Stella almost fell flat on the ground. Stella had had quite enough of this Indian pulling on her braids. She grabbed his hand in hers and twisted in such a manner that the Indian yelped in pain. Once Stella was facing the Indian, she could see the rage rising in his eyes. Although he was ready to pounce like a leopard on its prey, the enraged Indian stomped out of the hut. Stella almost wished the indian had ended it all that night.

After crying herself to sleep, Stella awoke to find sunshine streaking through the hut’s open door. She jumped up and ran out the door through the Indian village to the big oak tree where the warriors of the village had held her father captive the day before. He was gone! Stella felt a chill run down her spine knowing that the Indians had finally succeeded in killing her father. About five minutes after she returned to the hut, a strangely-dressed woman came in with a bark bucket in her hand and motioned for Stella to retrieve water from the creek. Stella knew this was her chance to escape but she couldn’t leave without Ella. She crossly snatched the bucket and returned with fresh water. However, Stella refused to eat and the woman sent her to the chief. The chief took Stella to one of the biggest huts she had ever seen! The chief called out something in what seemed to Stella to be jibberish, and a girl about her own age appeared at the entrance of the hut. The chief spoke another word or two to the girl and then left. Surprisingly the girl spoke English to Stella and stated, “Glasco is the man whose arm you twisted. It is hard to make him hurt but you did a good job. Everyone was laughing when he appeared outside White Owl’s hut. You shall belong to White Owl from now on.” So that’s who that woman is, Stella thought to herself. After learning to trust the chief’s daughter, Stella became good friends with her, whom she now knew was named Selincua. After what seemed to Stella to be a lifetime, Selincua managed to free Stella and Ella from the Indians’ grasp and told them to return to their mother.

It had been five years since Stella and Ella took the wrong path. Anxiously wanting to get home to their mother, they desperately searched for the crossroads where they had taken the wrong path before. They softly made their way through the bushes and brambles that had overgrown the path until they finally spotted home. Their mother greeted them at the door with tears in her eyes and asked where their father was. Stella took something from the pouch that Selincua had given her. It was a tuft of brown hair with dirt and dust cluttered on the base of the hair. Stella’s mother cried out in horror. Stella slowly retrieved a pick from the old barn and proceeded to bury the only remains of her father that she knew of. Three months later Stella’s mother married again. This new Papa wanted the Indians to pay for killing Stella’s first father. Along with a group of other men from the town, Stella’s new father proceeded to massacre the Indians and burn their village. Stella never accepted her stepfather the same way after that. She told him that she had never forgotten the mercy that Selincua had shown her and her sister. Stella would never forget.

~~~~~

GRAVITY

BY: Micah Kramer

“Kssssshhh,” went Luna’s skates as she sped across Lake Ontario. Luna’s family just moved there so she could pursue her dream of being an ice skater. “Dinner time Luna!” yelled her mother. She knew her father had caught a fresh pike when she smelled sizzling fish on the grill.

After dinner it was starting to get dark. Luna wanted to go skating again. Her parents made her take her older brother Jack to watch her. They both were having fun when Luna slipped and fell hard. They both heard cracking under her, and she fell through. Jack ran to her and saw her face shining from the moon under the water. Jack knew he had to do something, so he dove in and grabbed her arm to pull her out. Her face was pale and cold on the ice.

Luna’s family rushed her to the ER. She had to stay the night there, and they would find out what’s wrong with her the next morning. Luna woke up in the middle of the night and could only remember hitting her head on the ice. She looked at the bedside table and everything on it was fuzzy. She concentrated hard, still fuzzy. So she went a little closer and touched a stethoscope. She saw it clearly and saw that it floated when she touched it, a stethoscope floating over her head like it had nothing to hold it down! She rubbed her eyes and opened them to find the stethoscope sitting on the table. Morning came and the doctor told her parents she had suffered from lack of oxygen to the brain.

She could go home but had to lay down and not move too much. Luna was bored out of her mind the next day. Until her whole class came over except Luna’s skating rival Ivy. Ever since they moved here Ivy always wanted to beat her at everything, and she succeeded. Luna didn’t want to think about that right now though. That night she woke up wondering about the night at the hospital when the stethoscope floated. She tried to do it on something else to see if she could do it again. She focused on her pillow and tried to make it float. Nothing happened so she tried to do what she did the night at the hospital. She only remembered looking at the moon, so she tried that. She focused on the pillow and the moon. She could feel the power of the moon in her. Sure enough the pillow floated up from her head.

The week after was the day of the ice skating tournament. Last night she had a dream of the moon talking to her saying, “Luna I gave you this gift to show you who you are meant to be.” Luna didn’t know what the moon meant. But she was amazed the moon could give her powers like that. The competition was in an hour so her whole family got ready to leave for it. When they got there the competition was just starting. She saw a lot of friends as well as Ivy.

They both blew by the first and second round. There were four skaters left and only two would advance to the finals. Luna had butterflies in her stomach. Every one skated well that round but the two winners were Luna and Ivy. Ivy glared at her and Luna looked away. Ivy went first and gave it everything she had Luna didn’t think she could beat it but she had to try.

She went onto the ice and started. She was doing well but not well enough to beat Ivy, and her song was almost over. She knew what she had to do. She was going to do a triple axel. She turned the corner and touched her skates and felt the moon. She jumped into it and flew through the air. She felt herself floating. She spun three times and stopped focusing to land. She had finished her routine.

Ivy skated out on the ice to find out the winner. Luna couldn’t believe what she did. She was amazed. Then the moment they were all waiting for. The judges announced, “and the winner is Luna Johnson!” Luna was so happy so she skated to her family for congratulations! She was so excited she forgot about Ivy. But she looked back and saw her laying on the ice. Luna skated over to pick her up and skated off with her. Luna made friends with Ivy and knew the moon wanted to pursue her dream being a skater.

~~~~~
*Gianna Blake’s entry is currently unavailable. We will post it when a digital copy comes along!

The winners were recognized at a ceremony at the Martins Ferry Public Library on April 26th. We thank everyone who participated in the contest and hope you’ll join us again next year!

Winning entries will be published here on the OV Writers website, and on Weelunk. The publishing schedule will be up to the Weelunk editors.

Congratulations to our winners. Keep writing, Ohio Valley!

]]>http://www.ohiovalleywriters.com/2018/05/01/ohio-valley-writers-contest-winners-announced/feed/0Announcing the Ohio Valley Writers Contest!!http://www.ohiovalleywriters.com/2018/02/10/announcing-the-ohio-valley-writers-contest/
http://www.ohiovalleywriters.com/2018/02/10/announcing-the-ohio-valley-writers-contest/#respondSat, 10 Feb 2018 13:46:11 +0000http://www.ohiovalleywriters.com/?p=189The Ohio Valley Writers are pleased to announce our first writing contest, hosted by the Martins Ferry Public Library and sponsored by Oglebay Institute. We are accepting submissions for the adult contest and the elementary school contest. Entries will be judged by members of the Ohio Valley Writers group and invited to read their winning pieces at the awards ceremony on April 26, 2018 at the Martins Ferry Public Library. Prizes will be awarded in each adult category: $100 for first, $65 for second, and $35 for third. Kids’ prizes will be donated by local businesses.

Please see the guidelines for each contest below:

OHIO VALLEY WRITERS – ADULT CONTEST

Open to all writers in Ohio County, WV and Belmont County, Ohio.

CATEGORIES:

Fiction (up to 2,500 words)

Nonfiction (up to 2,500 words)

Poetry (up to 3 poems)

PRIZES, sponsored by Oglebay Institute:

First – $100

Second – $65

Third – $35

CONTEST GUIDELINES:

Send original, unpublished work.

Indicate entry category and word count in upper right hand corner of first page. All manuscripts must be titled, typewritten in standard 12-point font, and double-spaced. (Poetry may be single-spaced.)

Submit a separate manuscript for each category you choose to enter.

Additional guidelines for entries: Please print on one side of 8.5” x 11” white paper. Please staple entries. Manuscripts will NOT be returned. All paper submissions will be recycled after the Contest Awards Ceremony. Entries may be sent through regular mail only—NO signature-required mail will be accepted. Contest Coordinators are not responsible for manuscripts that are delayed, lost in the mail, mailed to the incorrect address, or damaged in delivery.

Members of Ohio Valley Writers and their families are not eligible.

JUDGING: Judges will not critique manuscripts. Entrants may not contact judges during or after the contest. Any attempt to do so by an entrant will result in automatic disqualification. Decisions of the judges are final.

WINNERS: Winners will be announced at OV Writers Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 6pm at the Martins Ferry Public Library. The list of winners will be posted online following the event.

Open to all elementary school students grades 1-5 in Ohio County, WV and Belmont County, Ohio.

Choose from one of the following prompts, or write your own story, essay, or poem!

If you could be an animal for a day, what animal would you be and why?

What would happen if your favorite toy came to life?

Write about a time when you were proud of yourself.

20 years from now, I will be….

If I ever start a town…

Write your own!

CONTEST GUIDELINES

ELIGIBILITY: Entrant must be in grades 1 – 5 for the Elementary Competition, and must be a resident of Ohio County, WV or Belmont County, Ohio. All entries must be original work of the entrant.

One entry per student, please. Though typed entries are preferred, hand-written entries will be accepted if they are legible.

WINNERS: There will be one set of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for each category. The winners will be chosen from the best of all categories in each age group, as determined by the contest judge(s). Winners will be announced at the Ohio Valley Writing Contest Awards Ceremony, Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 6pm, at the Martins Ferry Public Library and a full list of winners will be posted online following the event. Prizes for the kids’ contest will be donated by local businesses.

JUDGING: Judges will not critique manuscripts. Entrants, parents, or teachers may not contact judges during or after the contest. Any attempt to do so will result in automatic disqualification. Decisions of the judges are final.